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Kurdish forces in northeast Syria are hoping to win control of more sections of a prison where Islamic State fighters have tried to mount a takeover and mass breakout.

There have been fierce clashes since fighters overran the jail in Hasakah last Thursday.

The siege has continued despite reinforcements from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and backing from US fighter jets.

The United Nations children's agency is calling for an end in the fighting to allow safe passage of hundreds of children detained in the jail with aid agencies warning that the boys are now being used as human shields.

Fionnuala N铆 Aol谩in, is UN Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of human rights while countering terrorism. She says: 鈥淣o-one in this prison has had any form of legal process鈥� it鈥檚 a convenient black hole because many states of nationality or citizenship of these individuals do not want them back鈥�.

(Picture: An armoured vehicle rides next to a smoke as Syrian Democratic Forces affiliates clash with the Islamic State militants outside a prison in Hasakah, Syria. Credit: REUTERS)

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